Macfarlane says skills system is a ‘mess’

The Productivity Commission will be instructed to re-orient its inquiry into Australia’s automotive manufacturing industry toward the automotive components sector in the aftermath of Toyota’s decision to withdraw its manufacturing facilities from Australia.

Industry minister
Ian Macfarlane
said the Commission, which initially was instructed to look into the effectiveness of public subsidies for the carmaking industry, would now investigate the future of the components sector and whether it remains viable.

“Hopefully that won’t take much longer for the Commission and they’ll still be able to report within that 31 March timeframe," Mr Macfarlane said on ABC Radio.

Mr Macfarlane would not be drawn on how much money the federal government plans to spend to create new job opportunities for workers left without jobs in the wake of Toyota’s decision, but said the focus would be on skills and education to help with re-training.

“We’re saying there will be efficient use of the money that’s there and I can guarantee that the skills training that will be offered will be of a higher calibre and will present workers that are better work-ready than we’ve seen in the past," Mr Macfarlane said. “The reality is we’ve inherited a system in the skills and training area which is so close to broken that we have regular meetings now with people who say just fix this."

Mr Macfarlane said he could assure auto manufacturing workers that any jobs created for them “won’t be jobs that evaporate in six or eight months".

Prime Minister
Tony Abbott
has already flagged that the federal government will look at ways to fast-track “shovel-ready" infrastructure projects that could help to compensate for the economic losses in the states of Victoria and South Australia that will be affected by the demise of the motor industry.

“What [that] does is it creates the opportunity for industry to use that improved infrastructure to be more competitive and create more jobs. This is a long-term plan and we need to make sure the infrastructure failure that existed under the last government is addressed. But it’s not the only solution," Mr Macfarlane said.

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Mr Macfarlane would not be drawn on whether he agreed with calls from the automotive industry body to scrap tariffs on imported cars, which it argues are unnecessary now that the local auto manufacturing industry will close its doors.